Method of packing cigarettes



Aug. 1, 1961 Filed Feb. 5, 1960 J. W CHALMERS METHOD OF PACKINGCIGARETTES 4 Sheets-Sheet l 1 j -5- 3 2 g l /Nl/EN7'ORS \M, 4/4/12"54%,!

A TTORN XI Aug. 1961 J. w. CHALMERS 2,994,167

METHOD OF PACKING CIGARETTE-S Filed Feb. 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.2.

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A TTORNE Y Aug, 1, 1961 J. w. CHALMERS 2,994,167

METHOD OF PACKING CIGARETTES Filed Feb. 5, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4Patented Aug. 1, 1961 2,994,167 METHOD OF PACKING CIGARETTES John WalkerChalmers, Deptford, London, England, as-

signor to Molins Machine Company Limited, London, England, a company ofGreat Britain Filed Feb. 5, 1960, Ser. No. 7,052 Claims priority,application Great Britain Feb. 27, 1959 4 Claims. (Cl. 53-34) Thisinvention concerns an improved method of packing rod-like articles (suchas cigarettes) and more particularly a method of packing such articlesby wrapping flexible material such as paper or metal foil around a batchof the articles.

It is common to pack cigarettes by such wrapping operations and thenormal practice is to advance a batch of cigarettes endwise against asheet of wrapping material and to bend the sheet into a U about thebroad sides of the batch whereafter the material extending beyond theleading face of the batch and the two sides is folded on to the batch soas to contain it in a cup shaped wrapper. Subsequently any wrappingmaterial extending beyond the rear end of the batch is also folded downbut the invention is not concerned with such operations.

The material which extends sideways from the leading end of the batch isfolded on to the sides of the batch in various ways to form what areusually termed side tucks. If these tucks are made as the firstOperation in dealing with the material extending laterally of the batchit will be appreciated that the tucks will lie on the interior of thefinal cup. This is commonly done but when the finished packet is made ofone or more wrappers of flexible material and fairly tight the methodhas the disadvantage that if a consumer desires to replace an article itis liable to foul a tuck and be obstructed. It is possible to avoid thisinner obstruction by folding part of the other laterally extendingmaterial first to form one long side fold, then making the tuck and thenfolding the other long side fold but this method requires fairlyelaborate apparatus needing cams or the like for operating it. The sidetuck material can be partly separated by a pair of parallel slitstransverse to the length of the wrapper and then folded, as justrecited, which provides a some- What closer folding of the tuck and twoside folds but this again needs elaborate apparatus.

The present invention overcomes these disadvantages by providing afolding method not requiring elaborate mechanism and while it isprimarily intended for folding an inner wrapping about the batch whichis thereafter enclosed in an outer packet, made by wrapping about thebatch, or otherwise, the method can be applied to a paper wrapperconstituting the exterior of the packet and for example enclosing anunwrapped batch.

The invention provides a method of wrapping a batch of rod-like articles(such as cigarettes) in a sheet of flexible wrapping material in which asheet of wrapping material, having a pair of slits at each sidetransverse to the length of the wrapper and spaced apart by thethickness of the batch and extending from the edges of the sheet to suchdistance that the two pairs are spaced apart by the batch width, isfolded into a U about the broad faces of the batch on lines coincidingwith the inner ends of said slits by advancing the batch against thesheet and between parallel surfaces spaced apart by the batch thicknessand wherein the material lying between each of the said pairs of slitsis bent at 90 to the plane of the wrapper before the U starts to formand so that the bent parts will lie in advance of the base of the U asthe batch continues to move in the folding operation and thereafterfolding the material extending laterally of at least one of the broadfaces of the batch to form side folds and folding the aforesaid bentparts through to cause them to lie on the outside of the said sidefolds.

If the sheet of material is to form the exterior of a packet theabove-recited method involves folding the material extending laterallyof only one broad face to form inner side folds and thereafter foldingthe aforesaid bent parts through 180 to cause them to lie on the outsideof said inner side folds, because it is not desirable for the sake ofappearance to have exposed side tucks, but if the wrapping is toconstitute an inner wrapping of a packet all the side folds may be madebefore the said parts are bent through 180 to lie on the outer sidefolds.

The invention is illustrated diagrammatically in the annexed drawings,in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a sheet of wrapping material.

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the sheet just before a batch of cigarettesmeets it.

FIGURES 3 to 6 show successive stages in the folding operations.

FIGURE 7 shows a modified method.

FIGURE 8 shows part of a modified sheet of Wrapping material.

FIGURES 9l2 are perspective views corresponding substantially to FIGURES3-6.

FIGURE 13 is a perspective view corresponding to FIGURE 7.

Referring to the drawings 1 FIGURE 1 is a sheet of metal foil and thebroken lines 2 and broken lines 3 show the lines on which the sheet willbe folded about a batch of cigarettes and thus the distances betweenthese lines define respectively the width and thickness of the batch.The sheet has pairs of slits 4 at each side extending from the edgesinwards as far as the lines 2 and in alignment with the lines 3 thusproviding two flaps 5. No other folding lines have been indicated asthey are not necessary for understanding the invention and moreover theydepend on the closure, if any, of the finished article.

The flaps 5 between the pairs of slits 4 which eventually will form sidetucks is folded at right angles to the plane of the wrapper. This can bedone at any convenient time but is preferably done before a cigarettebatch 6 FIGURE 2 contacts with the sheet. Normally it will be done asthe sheet is fed into the position indicated in FIGURE 2. Progressivemovement of the cigarette batch causes the sheet to be folded into a Uas it is moved between surfaces 7. In FIGURE 3 the batch is shown in aposition where the U is nearly complete and it will be seen that theflaps 5 to constitute the side tucks are leading. This stage of thefolding operations is clearer from FIGURE 9 which shows the condition alittle later than in FIGURE 3. The material extending laterally of thelower broad face of the batch is then folded to constitute inner sidefolds, see 8, FIGURES 4 and 10, then the material extending laterally ofthe upper broad face of the batch is folded to constitute outer sidefolds see 9, FIG- URES 5 and 11, and finally the flaps 5 are swungbackwards through 180 as indicated by the arrows in FIG- URE 11 so thatthey lie outside the outer side folds as shown in FIGURES 6 and 12.

If it is desired to have the material 5 between the folds 8 and 9, aswill be practically essential if the wrapper is to form an exteriorpacket, the folding order is modified as shown in FIGURES 7 and 13 wherethe 180 movement follows the folding of the side fold 8.

Instead of cutting the slits 4 at right angles to the sides of thewrapper 1 as shown in FIGURE 1 they may be cut as shown in FIGURE 8,when they are marked 14 to diverge from the edges of the sheet to theirinner ends where they are spaced apart by the batch thickness and thepiece to be tucked is marked 15. This makes the slitting operationrather easier as the cut is made progressively as the web passes throughthe cutting rollers and tucking is easier than with a parallel tuck.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of wrapping a batch of rod-like articles (such ascigarettes) in a sheet of flexible Wrapping material in which a sheet ofwrapping material, having a pair of slits at each side transverse to thelength of the wrapper and spaced apart by the thickness of the batch andextending from the edges of the sheet to such distance that the twopairs are spaced apart by the batch width thereby providing a flap ateach side of the sheet, is folded into a U about the broad faces of thebatch on lines coinciding with the inner ends of said slits by advancingthe batch against the sheet and between parallel surfaces spaced apartby the batch thickness characterized in that flap lying between each ofthe said pairs of slits is turned through 90 to the plane of the Wrapperbefore the U starts to form and so that the said flaps will lie inadvance of the base of the U as the batch continues to move in thefolding operation and thereafter folding the material extendinglaterally of at least one of the broad faces of the batch to form sidefolds and folding the aforesaid flaps through 180 to cause them to lieon the outside of the said side folds.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which the mai terial extendinglaterally of one broad face of the batch is folded to form inner sidefolds and the said flaps are folded to lie on said inner side foldsWhe-reafter the material extending laterally of the other broad face ofthe batch is folded to form outer side folds.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 in which the material extendinglaterally of one broad face of the batch is folded to form inner sidefolds and the material extending laterally of the other broad face ofthe batch is folded to lie on the said side folds and constitute outerside folds, whereafter the said flaps are folded to lie on the saidouter side folds.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said slits are cut todiverge from the edges of the sheet to their inner ends where the slitsare spaced apart by the batch thickness.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,115,407 Escobales Oct. 27, 1914 1,175,142 Fischer Mar. 14, 1916FOREIGN PATENTS 1,127,207 France Dec. 11, 1956

